The first few weeks of the challenge course

​I have finally finished the whole course planning for all five courses. I have 3d game lab up and running in conjunction with MOODLE and all feedback from students and TTOC’s is that this is working well. Blended learning at its finest. I will post the lore(in another post) with some of the projects done so far of the 2 games running simultaneously on 3d game lab. The modeling and animation 12 course is linked to the modeling and animation 11 course so that they interact with one another. I am incredibly lucky that my 12’s are so willing to help the 11’s and act as incredible mentors (Ben and Chance you guys are so amazing!)
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The grade 10’s have had the opportunity to try their hand on and off with coding Python via codecademy, broken up by some challenges. Today (because it is a double block and we have more time.) They had options, half choosing to work on scratch and code small games the other half choosing to work on a bridge challenge for span and weight using only cardboard. The results are phenomenal I have included pictures and video of how amazing they all are!
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My grade 12’s have been flying through Cisco’s A+ certification course and doing well. I am so glad they are so independent and self motivated, that is not to say we don’t spend time talking about what they are working on. I still feel like I don’t get to spend enough time with them as they are so good at soldiering on and my other classes in this room need more attention. This may be the biggest pitfall of all the choice in this block. That and the crazy amount of front end planning I had to do. It really was more hours than I can even count.

The 11’s are working through their Comp TIA course well. We have paired with the 12’s to do some mentoring and hands on labs, as well as the online research pieces. I wish I could be there to do more of the hands on stuff with them myself, but it's good practice for the 12’s and I fly in and out when I can

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All in all I think everyone is learning. The feedback from students has been positive as they have a lot of choice in what they do. The assessments I have been able to do thus far shows they are learning a lot. I haven’t heard that they feel neglected but they don’t know what I would be doing if there were less classes involved. Maybe it's okay and I need to shift my thinking but I still feel torn in too many directions.

I have had some inquiries from colleagues about how I plan so I thought I would include some screenshots of the spreadsheets I used to plan the modeling and animation course. I have pretty much used a similar process for each class.  Thanks Carla for the organizational inspiration it has been a lifesaver! You are so on top of this, I am so lucky to have someone on my island for a change :) 

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This will remain a work in progress thanks to anyone following me, and I welcome feedback tweet me or comment here I appreciate any tips and tricks.